Build your own tennis lounge .. in your city

looking for traces of tennis in Istanbul

No, seriously, I was not, although had a raquet and balls. This is a city for soccer and basketball. You may find the playgrounds everywhere for those two - but I had seen no tennis courts. There is one near the Stamboul University main building seen clearly from the satellite. Meanwhile I spent half a week looking out for beaches because of the heat (+41C). There is a wonderful Kilyos just north of Istanbul on the Black Sea (a.k.a. Kara Deniz), with white sand and long gentle beach, and I'd been there on July 19. There is also a less cultivated but still very nice one at Yesilkoy (July 21) on the Marmara Deniz (a.k.a. Marble Sea). Old Istanbul looks like very much on the photos in Pamuk's autobiography - ruins vine-grown and local kids running and playing in between. But that's only in historical Romans, Byzanthians and Sultans' city - upper banliyo is very much like any meha-urban one may imagine. If you are there and have your plane tickets take care to arrive at the airport early, because I had been there two hours and nearly missed my plane - a lot of control lines to pass.